I bought...

My first sewing machine yesterday! It's a Singer. Now I need to bust a move on all my sewing projects I have lined up for myself.

So excited!!!!

I counted up all my online photo printing credits & I have close to 30o. That a whole lotta pictures I need to find before I lose out on the chance to print them for free! 200 them I got for collecting Pampers points. I made it to 150 points and plan on cashing them in for the 200 photos. I need to sit down and load pictures. I have several different sites I use. I discovered a new one last week that has 99 cent flat shipping rate (www.winkflash.com). They give you 50 free prints for signing up. I sent my grandparents a bunch of pictures of the kids for 99 cents!! So with 300 credits I guess that means I must get my rear in gear and catch up on my scrapbooking.

Spiced bunt cake

I made the pilot a spiced bunt cake with cream cheese frosting drizzled on it. It was really yummy. I did a bunt cake just for something different. It turned out rather pretty, too. I forgot to take a picture before we cut into it, but I do have an after picture. This is what happens when you have a 2 year old who is an expert counter climber and he is insistent on having cake for breakfast.

Seasame Peanut Noodles

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon chili garlic paste
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1 pound linguine
1 1/2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil (should be brown in color)
1 1/2 cup snow peas, thinly sliced at a slant (on a bias)
1 cup cilantro leaves
1/2 cup scallion greens, thinly sliced at a slant (on a bias)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
1 lime, cut into wedges for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the chili garlic paste—it should sizzle when it is added—and cook for 30 seconds.
2. Whisk in the peanut butter and Hoisin sauce, allowing to heat through.
3. Remove the sauce from the heat and whisk in the rice wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce and water until smooth, reserve.
4. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and place in a large bowl.
5. Combine Peanut Dipping Sauce with sesame oil and stir well. Add sauce to warm pasta; toss to combine. Let noodles cool slightly.
6. Add snow peas, cilantro, scallion greens, and sesame seeds to pasta. Toss to incorporate. Serve room temperature or chilled with a lime wedge.

Tip: If you don’t have access to fresh Chinese-style noodles at your local grocery store just use a good-quality linguine. Rice noodles are too fine to handle the intense sauce, so stick with a wheat flour noodle or try a buckwheat noodle. Adjust (increase) the chili garlic paste to make it spicier.

Cake in a jar

This recipe works really well if you want to mail to a loved one. I mailed DH some on his last deployment. They made it from CA to Iraq in one piece (flat rate box & bubble wrap). After they got there it didn't last much longer. I sent it in his St Patrick's day themed box, so I tinted the cake green. Send icing separately!!

*What you need...
- wide mouth 1/2 pint canning jars
- Cake mix of your choice
- all the ingredients the cake mix calls for (eggs, oil, etc or not, lol)
- cooking spray
- cookie sheet

*What you do...
- Pre-heat oven for the temperature it calls for.
- Mix cake according to directions on box.
- Wash canning jars & boil the tops (I boil while the cake is cooking).
- Spray inside of jars & place on cookie sheet.
- Pour cake mixture into jars 1/3 to 1/2 the way.
- Cook. It does take a little longer than what the box calls for. I think mine bake for about 40 minutes.
- As soon as the cake comes out, screw the lids on. Let cool. Tighten lids some more.

Cake Mix cookies

I did 2 different versions with multiple varieties for this recipe.

What you need...
- 1 box of cake mix, your choice
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup oil

What you do...
- mix all ingredients well
- cook at 350 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes.

Variation #1

I used a white cake mix. I 13 Christmas trees, 1 Ginger Bread Man, 1 Snowflake, & 13 peppermints out of 1 box of mix. The trees, man & snowflake all cooked for 8 minutes. The peppermint cookie cooked for 10 minutes. For the peppermint cookies I just crushed some peppermint cookies in a bag. I cooked the cookies (plain) for 5 minutes. I took them out & sprinkled the crushed peppermints. Gently pat them in & put back into the oven for another 5 minutes. I iced & sprinkled the cut-outs.

Variation #2

I used a chocolate cake mix. I'm still cooking these, but I think in the end I might have 18 Ginger Bread Men, and I will probably do the rest of the dough with the crushed peppermint. Again, cook the men for 8 minutes. I used sugar sprinkles on the men. Like the peppermint, I put the sprinkles on half way through cooking (4 minutes, sprinkle, pat, 4 minutes).

Lemon Snowflake cookies

What you need...
- 1 package of lemon cake mix with pudding (18 oz)
- 2 1/4 cups frozen whip topping, thawed
- 1 egg
- powder sugar

What you do... In a mixing bowl, combine cake mix, whipped topping and egg.
- Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Batter will be VERY sticky!!
- Drop by teaspoonfuls into powder sugar; roll lightly to coat.
- Place on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned on edges.

The stickiness makes it a pain to get onto the cookie sheet, but the end product is worth it!! You can probably get about 3, maybe 4, dozen out of the mixture. I'm still making them. I only have 1 dozen made, but there is still a lot of the dough left.